


Moments of Peace

by PersephoneLaLune



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Feel-good, Fluff, One Shot, Post-GOTG Vol 2, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Romance, also featuring a hint of disco, and a sprinkle of dancing, with a dash of silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 08:37:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15481872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PersephoneLaLune/pseuds/PersephoneLaLune
Summary: Peter comes up with a way for he and Gamora to spend some quality time together on a planet designed to entertain.





	Moments of Peace

Growing up amongst the Ravagers, Peter Quill learned to appreciate moments of peace when they were presented to him, no matter how short those moments may be. A couple of months had passed since he and the rest of the Guardians had their showdown with Ego, and since then, it had actually been quiet. For the most part, at least. Every once in a while they were all tipped off about some big bounty they could score, or a particularly terrible enemy who needed to be defeated, but in-between those fights and heists and action-packed missions, things were just calm.

Peter was still learning how to get used to things being calm again.

He enjoyed the days where there were no responsibilities, but it felt so...weird. When he was used to having calm, mundane days with his mother, she was suddenly taken away from him. Then, after decades of getting used to and accepting his new life with his adoptive father, Yondu, that was taken away, too. Even the short amount of time he had to get to know his biological father ended when he learned how evil Ego truly was. Part of him was scared to get too attached to his new family of misfits for fear of having it all disappear one day without notice.

...Another part of him wished he could stay in those quiet, calm moments forever, if it meant Gamora would stay there with him.

The days he got to spend with her, just her, were by far the best ones. Gamora had the same fear that Peter did, he knew that. She was more vocal about it, as time went on. She had been so scared to let anyone into her heart, not just Peter, that she had nearly forgotten how to. Slowly, though, she was beginning to work through some of her past traumas, one step at a time, and different sides of her personality were emerging because of that. It felt good for her to laugh again, like she did whenever Drax did something unintentionally hilarious, and she found a new source of happiness in taking care of Groot when he wanted something from her, even if he just wanted to play a game of hide-of-seek.  
  
Gamora was even starting to memorize some of the words to the songs Peter would blast from the ship's stereo every time they were in it. Peter had caught her quietly humming the chorus to a few of his favorites on more than one occasion while she was focused on something, like sharpening her sword, or attempting to move some of the ship's clutter out of the way.   
  
One day, after dealing with a somewhat exhausting mission, Peter suggested that the two of them unwind and decompress by listening to some music on his Zune. They rested side by side on top of his bed, where they wouldn't be bothered by the others, and shared one earbud each. It was so peaceful that neither Peter nor Gamora felt that anything needed to be said; the music did all the talking for them. After some time had passed, Peter glanced over at Gamora and silently observed her. She was staring up at the ceiling with a gentle, but neutral, expression on her face, looking like she was lost in her own thoughts, and Peter made a mental note to himself that they really needed to do this more often. She genuinely seemed to be enjoying herself, which was the best part. He couldn't help but think back to all those times that he and his mom had sat down and listened to some tunes together when things were tough...it felt like that was a lifetime ago, now.   
  
“Why are you staring at me?” Gamora suddenly asked, quietly, though she was still looking up as she spoke.  
  
“Huh?” Peter mumbled, then suddenly realized he _had_ been staring at Gamora for a good couple of minutes as he was spacing out. Looks like she was less distracted than he thought she was, though he should have figured, since she was literally trained to do things like be perceptive of her surroundings. “Oh! Sorry. I was just thinking.”  
  
“...Thinking about what?”

“Just, y'know. Stuff.” Peter replied, vaguely, and Gamora didn't seem curious enough to press him for a better response, so they both slipped back into silence, focusing once again on the 70's ballad that was currently playing from the Zune. Internally, though, Peter couldn't shake a certain idea that had popped into his head, and though he couldn't see it through on that specific day, he definitely wasn't going to be able to forget about it anytime soon.

 

* * *

 

 

A few more days passed before all the Guardians had fully rested and recovered from the last mission they had completed, and when he was sure that everyone was feeling more like their regular selves, Peter navigated the ship to a nearby planet that was known for being an entertainment hub in its' respective section of the galaxy. He had reasoned to the others that stopping there for at least a few days would be a much needed distraction, and nobody had any real objections to the idea, though Mantis seemed a bit confused as to what she was supposed to spend her time doing. Eventually, when they landed, Rocket grabbed Groot and took off towards the nearest casino, and Peter instructed Drax to try and find something that Mantis could enjoy, an order that Mantis seemed more enthusiastic about than Drax did. When it was just Peter and Gamora left in the ship, he collected his Zune and turned towards her with a confident grin.  
  
“So, uh, I've got a confession to make.”  
  
Gamora raised an eyebrow in response.  
  
“I kind of had ulterior motives for coming here. I mean, I did think the team needed a break, but I couldn't shake this one idea from my head, and the more I thought about it, the more persistent it was, so--”  
  
“Peter. Is there a point to this, or are you just rambling?”  
  
“There's a point! But it's a secret, okay? You gotta trust me.”  
  
She let out a small sigh, but she didn't actually look irritated. In fact, there was the tiniest hint of a smile on her lips. “Okay, fine. I trust you.”  
  
“Great! Step one, you're gonna want to change into something you can move around in.”  
  
“...Why do I have to-”

“Secret! You trusted me, remember?”

Gamora threw her arms up in defeat, then disappeared into her room without another word. She emerged a few moments later with a new, more lightweight outfit, though it didn't look that much different than the previous one she had on, since most of her wardrobe consisted of dark leather. As she returned to her spot in front of Peter, she was putting her hair back in a ponytail.

“There. Is this sufficient enough for you?”  
  
“If it works for you, it works for me. Although, I must say, it _definitely_ works for me.”  
  
Gamora lightly smacked Peter's arm, and he pretended to be hurt before laughing over it, causing her very slight smile to become a bit more noticeable.   
  
“Alright, alright! Step two is me leading you to step three. So...ready when you are.” Peter said, extending a hand out towards Gamora, who took it in her own hand as he led her out of the ship and into the busy streets ahead of them.   
  
The sun was already starting to set, but where they were going, there wasn't any need for it to be light outside. In fact, it was a location that probably sprang to life at nighttime, anyways. It seemed they had unintentionally picked a good time to head out.  
  
“So...” Gamora said, breaking the silence between them as they walked. “you've taken us to what is essentially an entire planet dedicated to partying and vacationing, it's nearly night, and the specific place we're going to is a secret. Forgive me for being a bit hesitant about all of this.”  
  
“It's going to be great, Gamora, I promise. If we get there and you decide you want out, I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do, okay?”  
  
She thought to herself for a couple of seconds before responding. “Fair enough.”  
  
“But I really think you're going to like it.”  
  
“I'm dying of anticipation.” Gamora said, with a deadpan tone to her voice. That didn't sour Peter's mood, though; he knew she cared more than she was allowing him to believe, or else she wouldn't have even come along with him in the first place.   
  
The journey to their destination took a little bit more time than Peter had hoped it would, but the walk was kind of nice. The sun continued to set as the minutes passed by, and soon it reflected bright shades of orange and pink onto everything below it, which was a pretty visually stunning sight to behold. The colors blended into flashing neon signs on top of buildings and little blue lights lining the sides of the path they walked on, making the whole scene look like something out of a painting.  
  
“...That is beautiful.” Gamora said, quietly, almost as if she hadn't meant to say it out loud. Peter had been too focused on mentally remembering the directions to where they were going to stop and notice the sky around them, but he glanced over at her when she spoke, and the soft expression on her face made his heart melt.   
  
“What is?” He replied, then, before she had a chance to answer his question, he looked up and saw it, too. “Oh, wow...yeah, it really is.” He added, then looked back at Gamora to see that she was still enthralled in the view. “But, uh, I knew it would be. That's why I brought us here at this exact time, of course. For the sunset.”  
  
“Of course.” Gamora repeated, rolling her eyes with a smile.  
  
“It's part of the surprise, obviously. Every bit of this is planned by me. Down to the tiniest detail.” Peter said, refusing to back down, even though it was almost comically apparent that he was making all of this up. Gamora seemed amused, though, chuckling to herself as she pointed out a man who was seemingly so drunk that he was throwing up into a trash can on the other side of the street.  
  
“Even that?”  
  
Peter followed his eyes to where she was pointing, then made a noise out of disgust and looked back towards her, slightly speeding up his pace.   
  
“Okay, maybe not down to the _tiniest_ detail.” He said, and when Gamora laughed a little louder, he couldn't contain the smile that was forming on his face. Making her laugh always felt like a personal victory to him. “Can't believe that guy...I explicitly told everyone on this planet to act cool when we showed up.”  
  
“That must have been a lot of work.”  
  
“Oh, believe me, it was! You have no idea how long I've been sitting on this plan, putting every last part of it in motion. This is a very big deal.”   
  
Gamora just shook her head, like she couldn't believe how big of a doofus Peter was, but she was still laughing, and that was all he cared about. He considered this day a success on that alone, regardless of how the rest of it played out. Luckily, though, he wouldn't have to wait much longer to see how this plan of his would go. After a few more minutes of walking, he finally brought the two of them to a halt in front of a large building with a neon pink sign on it, spelled in a language that was alien to both Peter and Gamora.   
  
“...Dizzy's?” Gamora said, sounding confused by the name. “Is that...a person? Dizzy?”  
  
“No--well, actually, I don't know. Maybe? That's not the point, though. Come on, I'll show you.”   
  
He led her into the building, still holding her hand, and once they were approved by the bouncer at the entrance (it's easy to get into venues when most of the galaxy knows you as heroes) Gamora finally started to realize where Peter had taken her.  
  
There were lights everywhere, flashing, and strobing, and changing color to the beat of the loud electronic song that played from speakers at every section of the wall. The outskirts of the room were set up as a lounge area, with tables and booths and comfortable looking sofas filled with people and creatures of all kinds, talking and laughing and sharing fruity-looking drinks with each other, which they seemed to have purchased at the bar in the corner. In the middle, there was a large dance floor, made up of tiles that changed color to the music much like the lights did, populated by a crowd of energetic people who were dancing along to the song that was currently playing. It wasn't so crowded that it was unbearable to be inside, but there was definitely a decent turnout for the night, and it was a bit difficult for Gamora to think properly amidst all the commotion at first glance.   
  
“It's a dance club!” Peter exclaimed, and Gamora nodded.  
  
“I can see that.”

He could tell that she wasn't entirely sold on the concept yet, so he continued. “I know it's kind of a lot of energy to handle, but once you focus on the dancing part it's a lot better, and a lot of fun.” He said, watching Gamora as she glanced around and scoped the place out, like she was trying to decide if she enjoyed it or not. “It was something I thought of a few days back, when we were listening to music together after that last mission. You know, I think you'd be a great dancer if you let yourself do it more often.”

“Oh, do you?” Gamora replied, her vision shifting to focus on Peter, now, instead of the rest of the room. For a second he was worried he'd accidentally offended or annoyed her, but the small smirk on her face seemed to say otherwise. “So that's why you were staring at me like an excited puppy, then.”  
  
“Well, yeah. That and I just couldn't shake the mental image of twirling you around under a bunch of flashy lights.”  
  
“Ah. I see.”   
  
When Gamora didn't say anything else for a few more seconds, Peter quickly spoke up again. “But, like I said, if you're not interested, it's no big deal, we can turn around and--”  
  
Before Peter even had a chance to finish his sentence, Gamora was already dragging him towards the middle of the room, much to his surprise. She weaved them through the crowd with precision, scoping out a section of the dance floor that had a bit of room to move without bumping into anyone, then stood still, looking at Peter expectantly.  
  
“Alright. Now what?” She asked, and Peter had to blink a few times to give himself a second to think.  
  
“Oh, wow, okay, I...honestly wasn't expecting to get this far.” He glanced behind them at the person running the DJ booth, then brought his attention back to Gamora. The song that was playing was...certainly loud, he'd give it that much, but it wasn't really the type of mood he'd had in mind. “Give me one minute, I'll be right back. Stay there!” He said, then jogged over to the booth at the back of the room. Gamora did as she was told, observing Peter from a distance as he got the DJ's attention and began speaking to them. The two of them had a short exchange, and the DJ looked like they were investigating something on the device they were getting their music from, then they nodded, prompting Peter to give them a thumbs-up before making his way back to where Gamora was standing.

After a few seconds, the song that had been playing started to fade off, and a new one started up in its' place. Even though Gamora didn't know the song off the top of her head, she could tell it was something Peter enjoyed almost immediately just by the sound of it. The rest of the club's patrons seemed a bit confused at the sudden genre shift, but once the beat started to kick in, it didn't take them long to get back to dancing.

“Get Down Tonight, KC and the Sunshine Band, 1975. Quintessential disco, much better to dance to than that other stuff they were playing.” Peter said, once he met back up with Gamora on the dance floor. She nodded, but only understood about half of what he was saying. “Have you ever danced to disco before?”

“What is disco?”  
  
“It's this up-beat music that people played in clubs like these back on Earth, it was really popular a few years before I was born.” Peter replied. “Anyways, the key is to pay attention to the beat of the song and dance in time to that. Here, watch.”  
  
He tapped his hand against his leg a few times to the sound of the beat to try and help Gamora visualize it a little better, then, when the first chorus hit, he spun around and immediately broke into dance. It took every fiber of her being for Gamora to contain herself from laughing, not because she thought he was a bad dancer, but because the dance moves themselves were so goofy looking. First he was holding his arms up diagonally and spinning his wrists around, then he was pointing up and down at the same angle, and then he switched which side he did that move on.   
  
“See? It's not that hard. You just have to move to the music.”  
  
“...Okay. So, like...” Gamora paused, listening to the beat like Peter had told her to, then started to sway a bit in time with it.   
  
“Yeah! You've got it!”  
  
She kept doing that same motion for a few more seconds, then, when she felt a bit more confident that she could match her movements with the song, she started rolling her shoulders one side at a time as she swayed. When the second chorus kicked in, she mimicked what Peter had done and spun around, but instead of copying the same moves he had shown her, she made up her own on the spot, doing her best to keep them in time with the beat. Peter mirrored her movements, which resulted in a sort of strange, chaotic display between the two of them, but the longer they kept it up, the more apparent the smile on Gamora's face became. As the song continued on, their dance moves evolved from 'flailing wildly' to 'flailing with style', and, eventually, they reached 'decent choreography', which was a lot more pleasing to the eye for everyone else in their general vicinity.   
  
“If I had known that you're a natural at this, I would've taken you to a dance club a lot sooner!” Peter said, snapping both of them out of their musical trance for a moment.  
  
“I would not have come here a lot sooner.”  
  
“I don't believe that.” He then said, as he stopped dancing and took a step closer towards her. “For someone who acts like she doesn't care about any of this stuff, you seem like you're having a pretty good time.”  
  
Gamora stopped dancing, too, and opened her mouth to say something that looked like an objection, but then she closed it again before she actually spoke. “I didn't used to care.”  
  
“Used to?” Peter asked; the smile on Gamora's face may have faded a bit, but his smile only grew. “How about now?”  
  
“...It's growing on me, I will admit. The...music, and the dancing.” She replied, but when Peter gave her a look that seemed to say he wasn't fully satisfied with that answer, she smiled again, and rolled her eyes. “I enjoy it, okay? It doesn't annoy me anymore. I enjoy spending time with you and listening to your favorite songs and some days they will not leave my head no matter how hard I try to focus on something else. Is that a good enough answer for you, Peter?”  
  
“Absolutely.” He said, then took one of her hands in his. “Now get ready, 'cause I'm about to spin you.”  
  
In a series of graceful motions, Peter twirled Gamora around, brought her close again, then dipped her. He hadn't planned on staying in that same dipped position for more than a second, but once they were there, neither one of them made an effort to break away. Peter was finding it more and more difficult to look anywhere except into Gamora's eyes, and, in return, she was gazing right back up at him. For a brief moment, it felt like time was standing still around them...though, that sensation might have just been Peter's heart skipping a beat. He didn't even notice that the song had ended until he realized that the loud rhythm playing from the speakers wasn't something that he was familiar with, and when that occurred to him, he finally brought Gamora back up, slowly.   
  
“So...that's how you dance to disco music.” He said, quietly, but they were still close enough to each other that she could hear him over the new song that was playing.  
  
“Thank you for the lesson.” She replied, no louder than he had spoken.  
  
“...Hey, Gamora?”

“Yes?”

“I kind of want to kiss you right now. Is that cool?”  
  
She looked at him for a moment in silence, and then, instead of giving him a spoken answer, she leaned forward and kissed him first. It wasn't the first kiss they had shared, but somehow, it still managed to feel like it was every time. Neither one of them was entirely sure what they were at this point; dating seemed like a bit too much of a commitment, but 'single' definitely wasn't accurate. Not that it really mattered that much to either of them at the moment, they were just content with being...whatever it was that they were.   
  
Their kiss most likely would have lasted a few seconds more, had it not been for the strange tugging feeling Gamora kept feeling at the bottom of her pants. She broke away to look down and investigate what the source was, only to see Groot standing there, frantically pulling on her clothing in an attempt to get her attention.  
  
“Groot?”  
  
“What the--how did you even know we were here?” Peter asked, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed that Groot had witnessed he and Gamora's public display of affection.   
  
“I am Groot.”

Peter and Gamora's understanding of Groot's language wasn't all there yet, but in the past couple of months, all the Guardians besides Rocket had been trying to learn how to speak it so that they didn't have to rely solely on Rocket for translations anymore. In times like these, that study time proved to be well spent.

“Drax told you? How did _Drax_ know we were here? I didn't even tell him where we were going!” Peter responded.

“I am Groot!”

“Woah, okay, slow down. What happened?”  
  
Groot began pointing frantically towards the doorway now, and both Peter and Gamora kneeled down to be at a slightly more equal height with him.   
  
“I. Am. Groot!”  
  
“Rocket? What about Rocket?” Gamora replied this time, and right as she spoke, as if on cue, a loud, familiar voice could suddenly be heard yelling near the bouncer at the entrance of the building. With a sigh, Gamora stood back up and peered beyond the crowd to try and see where he was, but finding him didn't prove to be necessary. In a matter of seconds, Rocket was barreling through the room, stopping as soon as he found where Groot had been hiding from him.  
  
“Aha! C'mere, you little twerp, do you even know how many credits you made me lose throwin' those chips around like a maniac!?” Rocket said, scooping Groot up in his hands before he had a proper chance to protest.  
  
“Rocket, what the hell is going on?” Peter asked, feeling slightly disoriented by all the sudden chaos.  
  
“Why don't you ask him? He's the one that got us kicked outta the casino 'cause he couldn't suppress the urge to cause a scene for five freakin' minutes!”  
  
Rocket and Peter continued to go back and forth trying to resolve the issue at hand, while Gamora, who had been standing off to the side and ignoring the others to the best of her ability, eventually grew tired of watching them bicker and left to go back to the ship without another word. Later that night, Peter would end up frustrated that his big plans for the day had been interrupted, but, in an odd way, it also felt kind of fitting. Sure, the rest of the crew could get on his nerves sometimes...a lot of the time, actually, but that was just part of being a family, and he wouldn't trade that family for anything. Though he did have a particular urge to trade Rocket in for a less intrusive temporary family member, just for tonight.  
  
At the very least, Peter knew that Gamora had appreciated his efforts to do something nice for her. Before she retired to her room in the ship to get some sleep, she came to visit him, thanked him for taking her out, gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek, then left.   
  
He wasn't entirely used to things being calm again, he knew it would take some more time to fully accept the concept, but he was getting there, and so was she, and Drax, and Rocket, and Mantis, and even Groot. It finally felt like their lives were starting to fall into place. After so much fighting, and suffering, and pain, they had all found their people, their home.  
  
The little things, those soft, quiet moments that they all got to share every once in a while, may not have been very important in the grand scheme of the universe, but they were important to every member of their team.  
  
At the end of the day, that was all that really mattered. Even if they didn't fully realize it, sometimes.  
  
They had each other.

 

**Author's Note:**

> hello everyone! it's been three years since i've published a fic on this account which is...bonkers. so i apologize if i'm a bit rusty, haha! i've been doing a bit of writing here and there in the years since 2015, but i'm a bit out of practice with writing more than a few paragraphs at a time. in the past year or so, i've absolutely fallen in love with the guardians of the galaxy movies and the characters, so it's all kind of re-ignited a creative spark in me that i haven't been able to find for a while. this fic came from an idea that was floating around in my head while i was listening to disco music a few days ago, and i just had to get it written down before i lost the motivation or forgot the general idea of it. i just love peter and gamora so much, separately and as a couple, so i may or may not post more stuff with them in the future if that spark comes back. anyways, i hope you enjoyed the fic!


End file.
